"We hope that this tribunal will put a final point for all political assassination in Lebanon but it needs the help and the support and the collaboration of the Syrian regime. We hope that they will do and if they will do it will be a new stage to a good relation, to restore the relation, between Lebanon and Syria. And also for Lebanese, for opposition in Lebanon, we say it will never be a political tool. It is really for all the Lebanese a victory and it will be to help Lebanon to consolidate its democracy and freedom."

10. Various of construction on road where Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated

11. Lebanese army forces providing security at site which has been closed since assassination

"We are not demanding justice for the sake of revenge. We are demanding justice for the sake of accountability and for the sake of truth, which should be kept as a sacred trust in the conscience of all Lebanese. We should all participate in securing the International Tribunal to protect Lebanon."

16. Saad Hariri arriving at his father's grave

17. Mid shot of Saad Hariri praying at his father's grave

18. Wide of grave

STORYLINE

There was cautious optimism in Beirut on Thursday as supporters of assassinated former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri welcomed the United Nations Security Council vote to unilaterally establish an international tribunal to prosecute suspects in the slain leader's assassination.

"We hope the international tribunal will be fair and seeking justice without a political agenda. And to put a stop to political assassinations," said one Beirut resident.

Ahmad Fatfat, Lebanese Youth and Sports Minister welcomed the decision saying that he hoped the that the tribunal will put an end to all political assassination in Lebanon.

"But it needs the help and the support and the collaboration of the Syrian regime." he said, adding that if Syria chooses to cooperate with the tribunal "it will be a new stage to a good relation, to restore the relation, between Lebanon and Syria."

The slain leader's supporters danced in the streets on Wednesday following the announcement of the Un decision and his son, Saad Hariri, said the resolution was a turning point in Lebanon that would protect the country from further assassinations.

"We are not demanding justice for the sake of revenge. We are demanding justice for the sake of accountability and for the sake of truth, which should be kept as a sacred trust in the conscience of all Lebanese. We should all participate in securing the International Tribunal to protect Lebanon," Hariri said.

The vote on the resolution was 10-0 with five abstentions - Russia, China, South Africa, Indonesia and Qatar.

That was one more than the nine votes needed for passage.

The five countries that abstained objected to establishing the tribunal without approval of Lebanon's parliament and to putting the resolution under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter which deals with threats to international peace and allows militarily enforcement.

But none opposed the tribunal itself.

A UN investigation has implicated Syria in Hariri's assassination in 2005 when the Syrian army controlled Lebanon.

Syria has denied involvement.

The issue of an international tribunal has since fuelled a deep political conflict between Saniora's Western-backed government and the Syrian-backed, Hezbollah-led opposition.

The conflict has taken on an increasingly sectarian tone and erupted into street battles, killing 11 people in recent months.

Hariri's assassination sparked huge protests against Syria, which was widely seen as culpable. Syria denied involvement but was forced to withdraw its troops from Lebanon, ending a 29-year presence.

The initial UN investigator said the complexity of Hariri's assassination suggested the Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services played a role, but the probe is continuing.

Four Lebanese generals, top pro-Syrian security chiefs, have been under arrest for 20 months, accused of involvement in Hariri's murder.

"No, Mr. Prime Minister Mikati, your friend Hariri wasn't just martyred. He was assassinated with two tons of explosives, along with him, your colleagues, your friends and your citizens. For them, you have a holy responsibility that will follow you, will chase you, forever and ever. The worst series of the worst crimes in the history of Lebanon is being treated with irreverence, without investigation, without question and without punishment, and now after 30 years it is on the precipice of being solved, and its executors, God willing, and those who ordered it, will be known."

"My message to these individuals is the following: an arrest warrant has been issued against you today. The only person in the world who can get you out of this arrest warrant is a lawyer. So, make contact as soon as possible with a lawyer."

"If the accused, or some of them, do not contact lawyers, then they will be tried in absentia. In that case, I myself have to assign lawyers on this list to defend the accused. But clearly those lawyers won't have contact with the accused, they won't know their points of view, and their job will certainly be more difficult."

12. Cutaway of hands

STORYLINE:

Lebanon's parliament began three days of contentious debate on Tuesday, over the government's response to UN-backed indictments of four Hezbollah members in the 2005 murder of former prime minister Rafik Hariri.

In parliament on Tuesday, MP Marwan Hamadeh told Lebanon's new Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, that he had "a holy responsibility that will follow you, will chase you, forever and ever" to bring Hariri's killers to justice.

Hamadeh himself was injured in a car bomb explosion on October 1, 2004 that killed his driver and injured his bodyguard.

The blast is considered to have been the beginning of a series of assassinations of Lebanese politicians and journalists, one of which claimed the life of Rafik Hariri.

Tuesday's session in Beirut pitted Lebanon's rival factions against each other. Hezbollah and its allies are on one side, and a Western-backed coalition led by Hariri's son, Saad, is on the other.

On Monday, Saad Hariri accused Mikati of bowing to pressure from Hezbollah, which is refusing to turn over four members indicted by the UN-backed tribunal for the truck bombing that killed the Lebanese statesman in 2005.

Mikati fired back, suggesting Saad Hariri - himself a former prime minister - was trying to exploit his father's death for political gain and tear apart the country.

The implication of the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah in one of Lebanon's most stunning crimes threatens to bring a new and violent crisis in this Arab nation on Israel's northern border.

The Shiite militant group denies any role in the killing and vows never to turn over any of its members.

Also on Tuesday, the defence chief at the UN tribunal investigating the assassination of Rafik Hariri has urged the four Hezbollah members indicted in the slaying to come forward.

Francois Roux says the men will be tried in absentia if they stay in hiding.

"My message to these individuals is the following: an arrest warrant has been issued against you today. The only person in the world who can get you out of this arrest warrant is a lawyer. Make contact as soon as possible with a lawyer," Roux said.

Roux said that his office would help them prepare their defence.

The tribunal last week indicted the men in the 2005 assassination of Hariri, a prominent Sunni statesman.

Hezbollah's leader Hassan Nasrallah denies his Shiite group had any role in it and has vowed never to hand the men over.

4. Set up of Future Movement bloc Member of Parliament, Atef Majdalani

5. Photograph of Majdalani with Saad Hariri, son of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri

6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Atef Majdalani, Future Movement bloc MP:

"We consider the release of the indictment today is part of our martyr's rights, and this indictment is the first step to achieve the truth then justice in order to stabilise Lebanon."

FILE: Beirut - 14 February 2005

++4:3++

7. Various of explosion site where Rafik Hariri was killed

FILE: Beirut - 2004

++4:3++

8. Various of Rafik Hariri giving a speech

STORYLINE:

A U.N.-backed court investigating the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri delivered an indictment and four arrest warrants Thursday, the latest turn in a case that has transformed this Arab nation and brought down the government earlier this year.

The names of the accused were not released, but the court has been expected to accuse members of the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah.

Many fear that could lead to street protests and plunge the violence-wracked

country back into a new crisis.

The long-awaited indictment was confirmed by the office of Hariri's son, Saad.

According to tribunal rules, Lebanese authorities now have 30 days to serve the indictments on suspects or execute arrest warrants. If they fail, the court can then order the indictment published and advertised in local media.

Saad Hariri also served as Lebanon's prime minister. But he was forced from office in January, when Hezbollah and its allies toppled his government in a conflict over the tribunal.

The group, which is also backed by Syria, fiercely denies any role in the killing and says the tribunal is a conspiracy by Israel and the United

States.

The dispute over the investigation encapsulates Lebanon's most explosive conflicts: the role of Hezbollah, the country's most powerful political and military force; the country's dark history of sectarian divisions and violence; and Lebanon's fraught relationship with neighbouring Syria.

Rafik Hariri was killed along with 22 other people in a massive truck bombing along Beirut's waterfront on February 14, 2005.

The indictment raises concerns of a possible resurgence of violence that has blighted this tiny Arab country of four million people for years, including a devastating 1975-1990 civil war and sectarian battles between Sunnis and Shiites in 2008.

7. Mid of Saad Hariri, son of Rafik Hariri, the assassinated former Lebanese prime minister, walking along in procession

8. Wide of funeral procession

9. SOUNDBITE: (English) Walid Jumblatt, Druse politician:

"Syrian regime with their allies are trying to reduce our majority in the parliament. They have killed yesterday a prominent member of parliament. They can kill three more, if they kill three more members we will lose the majority and this is their calculation so that the government of Saniora will fall down."

10. Mid of Hezbollah MP bloc's flag

11. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Hussein Hajj Hassan, Hezbollah MP:

"We condemn the terror act which led to the killing of legislator Walid Eido, his son, two of his bodyguards and several Lebanese citizens. And we think that these crimes are taking place and are synchronised by the political exposure in the country. We think that the politicians are invited to find a political solution to the crisis in order to deal with all the disputed issues, as well as dealing with the security exposure. Some intelligence parties are getting benefits and committing these acts of terror and committing seditious acts against the Lebanese."

12. Tilt down of Al-Khachekji Mosque, mourners, security

13. Wide of funeral procession, coffin being carried

14. Various mid shots of coffins being carried to mosque

15. Top shot of three coffins inside the mosque (containing bodies of Walid Eido, his son, and one of the bodyguards killed)

16. Relatives kissing a coffin

17. Saad Hariri, leader of the anti-Syrian majority bloc, in parliament arriving at the mosque

"No one should think that this people will kneel and be frightened. I tell the criminals: you will be punished and you will be dragged to prisons and will face justice, God willing."

20. Body being lowered into grave

21. Eido's son crying

22. Another body being lowered into grave

23. Wide pan of cemetery

STORYLINE:

Tens of thousands of mourners bade farewell on Thursday to victims of a powerful car bombing in Beirut that killed a prominent anti-Syrian legislator and nine others as the Lebanese government - reeling from another blow targeting its supporters - sought international help.

A bomb ripped through Walid Eido's car on Wednesday as he drove from a seaside sports club, also killing his 35-year-old son, two bodyguards and six passers-by.

Thursday's funeral procession swelled to tens of thousands of mourners who escorted coffins carrying the bodies of Eido, his son and one of the bodyguards killed.

The mourners followed ambulances covered with Lebanese flags that drove from the American University Hospital in West Beirut to a mosque at the Shohada Cemetery several kilometres (miles) away for a prayer service and internment.

It drove down the main thoroughfare of Corniche Mazraa in the Muslim sector of the capital, where pictures of the assassinated politicians were posted on walls and overpasses and Eido's widow waved to the crowds from a balcony.

Saad Hariri, leader of the anti-Syrian majority bloc in parliament to which Eido belonged, Druse politician Walid Jumblatt and other prominent anti-Syrian leaders also marched in the procession.

Jumblatt, an anti-Syrian MP, said that if the Syrian regime killed three more MPs, "we will lose the majority and this is their calculation so that the government of Saniora will fall down."

One Hezbollah MP, whose party is pro-Syrian, also condemned the killings.

"Some intelligence parties are getting benefits and committing these acts of terror and acting seditiously against the Lebanese," Hussein Hajj Hassan said.

At the Al-Khachekji mosque, male relatives sobbed and bent to kiss the coffins laid next to one another.

The spiritual leader of Lebanon's Sunni Muslims, Grand Mufti of the Republic Sheik Mohammed Rashid Kabbani, led the prayers, with Saad Hariri, son of assassinated former prime minister Rafik Hariri, at his side.

Saad Hariri said Lebanon would not kneel before the killers and promised they would be brought to justice.

"No one should think that this people will kneel and be frightened," he said. "I tell the criminals, you will be punished and you will be dragged to prisons and will face justice, God willing."

Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora has called for an emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers and the international community to assist in the investigation of Eido's assassination.

The blast that killed Eido was a new blow to the stability of an already conflict-torn nation.

It came just three days after the government, together with the United Nations, started putting together an international tribunal ordered by the UN Security Council to try suspects in the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in Beirut two years ago - a move strongly opposed by Syria and its allies in Lebanon.

Eido was a prominent supporter of the tribunal, a staunch follower of Hariri and the seventh anti-Syrian figure killed in Lebanon in the past two years.

Many in Lebanon have accused Syria of being behind the killings, a claim Damascus denies.

Syria controlled Lebanon for 29 years until it was forced out after Hariri's assassination, and its Lebanese opponents believe it is seeking to regain domination by plunging the country into chaos.

Businesses, schools and government offices were closed on Thursday after the government declared a day of national mourning.

The killings were likely to further enflame Lebanon's bitter power struggle between Saniora's Western-backed government and its Syrian-backed opponents, led by the Hezbollah militant group.

As the fighting in the north, pitting the Lebanese Army against Palestinian militants, with Palestinian refugees under siege, continues, many fear the violence there and in Beirut could push the polarised nation, with a fragile balance of ethnic and religious groups, into a new civil war.

"The international tribunal, it's our only possibility to protect the civil population and the political class in Lebanon. We are still in the 14 last hours, 14 last years we did sacrificed a lot of our politicians and now we are sacrificing our civilian population also. So (that is) why we need so much this international tribunal."

Ein Alaq

19. Remains of blown up bus in cordoned off area

20 Close-up of bus

21. Various shots of second destroyed bus and cars behind cordon

22. Police behind cordon

STORYLINE

A sea of Lebanese flags held aloft by tens of thousands of mostly pro-government supporters filled Beirut's main square square on Wednesday to mark the emotive second anniversary of former prime minister Rafik Hariri's assassination.

The government deployed hundreds of troops to deter trouble, a day after two bombs killed three people on a highway northeast of Beirut .

Troops in full combat gear and armoured cars deployed in and around Martyrs' Square, where the country's two main rival groups were present: government supporters commemorating the death of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and opposition supporters continuing their daily sit-in to demand the government's resignation.

The soldiers set up a razor wire barrier to separate the two groups. Police conducted body searches as people arrived at the square.

An early arrival was Prime Minister Fuad Saniora, a longtime confidant of Hariri, who, with his wife and several legislators, prayed at Hariri's grave, which lies at one side of Martyrs' Square.

The Lebanese minister of sports and youth, Ahmad Fatfat, also present, emphasised the need for an international tribunal to try suspects for the

assassination of Rafik Hariri.

Hariri's sister, Bahiya, a lawmaker, also came to the grave and prayed.

By late morning, the square was teeming with people waving the red-and-white national flag and political party flags.

Many people held pictures of Hariri or balloons in the blue colour of the Hariri faction in parliament, now led by his son, Saad.

Some demonstrators climbed the square's statue, which commemorates Lebanese martyrs of the Ottoman era.

On the other side of the razor wire, opposition supporters were noticeably low key in the tent village they have been sleeping in for months.

Supporters of Hezbollah and other parties, they walked around to warm up under the sun.

Tuesday's explosions on commuter buses on a busy mountain highway northeast of Beirut stoked fears of turmoil as the country prepared to mark the 2005 assassination of Hariri, the nation's most prominent politician and the leader credited with rebuilding the country from the destruction of the 1975-90 civil war.

Lebanon has suffered a series of bombings during the past two years, mostly targeting anti-Syrian figures, but Tuesday's attacks were the first that seemed intended to cause maximum casualties among civilians of no political affiliation.

Hariri and 22 others were killed in a huge explosion that occurred as his motorcade was passing through central Beirut.

He was buried a few blocks away from the site. Outrage over the assassination forced Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon two months later, ending a 29-year presence.

"Betting on saving the Syrian regime is an illusion based on delusional victories and on a regional decision to continue the destruction of Syria. We have already told Hezbollah that entering the Syrian war is a madness that has brought the terrorist madness to our country. Today we tell the party that binding the Golan to the South (of Lebanon) is also madness. This is an additional reason for us to say: withdraw from Syria. Stop dragging the fires from Syria to our country."

"Ladies and gentlemen, you are here to respond once more to the assassinations' acts, the crimes of the blast and the (people in) dark rooms who are planning to stir turmoil amongst the Lebanese people. With your gathering here, the 14th of March (correct - refers to rallies a month after assassination) is rising again, and Rafik and all martyrs of liberty will be alive in Lebanon's memory."

AP TELEVISION

16. Mid shot of soldiers

17. Various of crowd

18. Various of soldiers at rally

STORYLINE:

Hundreds of thousands of flag-waving Lebanese, some carrying anti-Syrian banners and many shouting criticism of Damascus, massed in a square in Beirut on Tuesday to commemorate the first anniversary of former Lebanese Premier Rafik Hariri's assassination.

The gathering answered a call by groups opposed to Syrian involvement in lebanon aiming to show their popular strength amid deep political divisions.

Next to the square Rafik Hariri's sister Bahia Hariri prayed at his graveside before anti-Syrian politicians addressed the crowd.

The politicians, including Hariri's son, Saad, and cabinet ministers, called for the ouster of Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, saying he represented the symbol of Syrian power in Lebanon.

"It will be the international tribunal and the truth will be very clear for all the Lebanese people and the international community."

Some speakers verbally attacked Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Thousands of troops and policemen, backed by armoured vehicles, sealed off Beirut's downtown area to provide security and guarded approaches to the Lebanese capital.

The government, which is dominated by the Saad Hariri bloc, gave schools the day off to maximise participation.

Businesses also closed.

Thousands of people began gathering by mid-morning, carrying Lebanese flags and pictures of Hariri, and the numbers had swelled to more than 700-thousand by early afternoon, according to police estimates.

The demonstration, on the central Martyrs' Square next to Hariri's grave, climaxed shortly after midday local (1000gmt).

The crowds fell silent at 12:55 p.m. (1055GMT) - the time when a huge truck bomb exploded on a downtown street as Hariri's motorcade drove by a year ago, killing him and 20 others.

Saad Hariri, the slain premier's son and political heir, who had returned to Beirut on Sunday - after months of self-exile in Saudi Arabia and France for fear of assassination, had urged the Lebanese to demonstrate on Tuesday.

"You are here to respond once more to the assassinations' acts, the crimes of the blast and the (people in) dark rooms who are planning to stir turmoil amongst the Lebanese people," he told the crowd.

The groups who organised Tuesday's rally were looking for a repetition of a March 14 protest in which about one (m) million Lebanese converged on Martyrs' Square to demand the Syrian army leave Lebanon.

It fell short of that outpouring, but was still a comprehensive turnout.

Syria's troops left in April under international pressure, and a UN probe into Hariri's murder has already implicated top Syrian and allied Lebanese security officials.

Anti-Syrians have continued to accuse Syria of interfering in Lebanese affairs and carrying out a campaign of bombings and assassinations in the last year that has killed other 11 people, including three prominent anti-Syrians.

Damascus has denied involvement in all these attacks, including the death of Hariri.

Before the troop pullout, Syria had dominated Lebanon with its army and security services for nearly three decades, first entering in 1976 to quell a fratricidal civil war that did not end until 1990.

"The investigation's report is the first step in the course of uncovering the truth. We will look forward to (the investigation) continuing to reach the justice which alone will be the source of full comfort to the Lebanese people, the Lebanese state and its stability."

4. Cutaway

5. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Saad Hariri, Legislator:

"The results reached by the UN international commission will not be subject to any internal or external bargaining - because the blood of the Lebanese people and the blood of Rafik Hariri and the others won't be starting any bargaining nor any political trade. We will not accept that, as it becomes a means of political or non-political punishment."

"The UN investigation report, led by judge Detlev Mehlis, was highly appreciated by the Lebanese. The report expressed itself by the strong facts that it included and by the extreme professionalism, as was expected by the Lebanese people, without any compliance, biased or political influences.''

10. Cutaway journalists

11. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Lebanon's Information Minister Ghazi Aridi

"The aim of discovering the details of this huge crime is to stop the series of the political assassinations in Lebanon and in all the Arab countries.''

12. Cutaway cameraman

13. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Lebanon's Information Minister Ghazi Aridi

"Despite of all that has happened, nothing will change the brotherly relations between the Lebanese and the Syrians. The strong relations between Lebanon and Syria should not be affected under any circumstances. This bond is stronger than the condemned deterioration and mistakes that happened in the past."

14. Ghazi Aridi leaving the presser

STORYLINE

The son and political heir of slain former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on Saturday praised a UN probe that implicated top Syrian and Lebanese intelligence officials in the murder of his father.

"The investigation's report is the first step in the course of uncovering the truth," said legislator Saad Hariri in a televised speech from his residence in the Saudi Arabian city of Jiddah.

Many Lebanese politicians are temporarily living abroad because they fear violence at home.

Hariri's statement came two days after the chief UN investigator, German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, released the findings of the UN probe into his father's killing.

Mehlis said in his report there was a clear link between Syrian and Lebanese intelligence officials in the massive bombing that killed Hariri and

20 others in central Beirut on February 14.

Syria angrily rejected as false, unprofessional and politicised the UN report that accused it of approving Hariri's assassination.

Saad Hariri, who heads the largest anti-Syrian bloc in Lebanon's parliament, also said that the findings of the probe "will not be subject to any internal or external bargaining".

His statement was the first official comment on the UN report by the Hariri family.

Hariri spoke shortly before Lebanon's cabinet discussed the report, which it said was based on "strong facts and high level of professionalism".

The cabinet also called on Syria to cooperate honestly with the investigation, but Information Minister Ghazi Aridi insisted the probe would not

affect his country's ties with Damascus, adding the cabinet would discuss calls for an international tribunal after the UN investigation ended.

The elder Hariri's assassination prompted mass anti-Syrian protests and intensified international pressure on Syria to withdraw its army, ending 29

years of control of its neighbour.

Many Lebanese blamed the killing on Syria and pro-Syrian Lebanese security chiefs.

Syria and its Lebanese allies denied any involvement.

Four Lebanese generals who ran the security services at the time Hariri was killed have been jailed for alleged involvement in the murder.

"We are saying to the Syrian regime that the eye of Lebanon will resist your drill and it did resist and will resist till the rising of the real Lebanon and the state of Lebanon."

18. Wide of waving flags

19. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Walid Jumblatt, member of Parliament

" We came here to say that we will not surrender to the terrorist, the killing bombs, to the Syrian or non-Syrian parties. We advise Sayyed (Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah Secretary General) to give his missiles to the Lebanese army."

20. Pan of crowds

POOL

21.SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Saad Hariri, "We are sticking to the truth to know who was behind the assassination of Rafik Hariri and all the martyrs who were killed in defending Lebanon and to the justice to suit the killer and to the international tribunal to stop the cycle of terrorism, blood and the serial assassinations that killed our elite for 30 years."

AP TELEVISION

22. Prime Ministers' office building with pro-Hezbollah protesters tent in the foreground

23. Tents behind barbed wires

24. SOUNDBITE (Arabic), Hussein al-Haj Hassan, Hezbollah member of parliament "There is absolutely no attempt (by the opposition) to impede the international tribunal...there are serious observations. The discussion that is taking place within constitutional frameworks could lead to the approval of a revised bill for the problem to establish an international court for prosecuting the killers, not for political exploitation."

LBC

25. Various of crowds leaving

STORYLINE

Tens of thousands of Lebanese packed into a Beirut city square and and held aloft the nation's flag Wednesday to mark the emotive, politically-charged second anniversary of Rafik Hariri's assassination.

Fears for public safety at such a mass gathering were high, the day after two bombs in Beirut left three people dead, and prompted the government to deploy hundreds of troops in case of further violence.

The country's continuing and long-running power struggle was played out in Martyrs' Square, where a mass of government supporters gathered next to Hariri's grave.

A much smaller number of mainly pro-Hezbollah opposition supporters remained camped in tents close by to demand the government's resignation.

Backed by armoured cars, soldiers erected a razor wire barrier to separate the two groups. The opposition made clear it wanted the anniversary to pass without violence.

Politicians, including members of the former leader's family, gathered at Rafik Hariri's graveside for prayer.

At exactly 1055 GMT - the time of the fatal explosion - the crowd fell silent except for a muezzin's Islamic call to prayer and the tolling of a church bell.

Then the country's leading politicians addressed the crowd.

Walid Jumblatt, a pro-government member of Parliament, made a pointed attack on Hezbollah, " We came here to say that we will not surrender to the terrorist, the killing bombs, to the Syrian or non-Syrian parties. We advise Sayed (Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah Secretary General) to give his missiles to the Lebanese army."

Said Hariri, the son of the former leader said "We are sticking to the truth to know who was behind the assassination of Rafik Hariri and all the martyrs who were killed in defending Lebanon and to the justice to suit the killer and to the international tribunal to stop the cycle of terrorism, blood and the serial assassinations that killed our elite for 30 years."

The UN investigation into his father's assassination has become a thorny point of contention in Lebanon's power struggle.

Hezbollah's power struggle with the government of Fuad Saniora is seen in the region as the militant Shiite group's muscle-flexing attempt to build on its success in the ground war with Israel in south Lebanon during the summer war.

Some observers say Hezbollah is trying to secure a position of strength in the cabinet with the power of veto which could be utilised against the international tribunal.

However, Hussein al-Haj Hassan, a Hezbollah member of parliament told AP Television News "There is absolutely no attempt (by the opposition) to impede the international tribunal...there are serious observations. The discussion that is taking place within constitutional frameworks could lead to the approval of a revised bill for the problem to establish an international court for prosecuting the killers, not for political exploitation."

The probe is slowly proceeding, but Lebanon's approval of UN-backed court to try the suspects has been held up by the deep internal divisions between the pro-American government and the opposition, led by the Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah.

Supporters of Saad Hariri and of the government, now made up of his allies accuse Syria of being behind his father's slaying.

Syria was forced to withdraw its troops from Lebanon two months after Hariri's death after intensive regional and international pressure, but denies any involvement his death.

"We are sticking to the truth to know who was behind the assassination of Rafik Hariri and all the martyrs who were killed in defending Lebanon and to the justice to suit the killer and to the international tribunal to stop the cycle of terrorism, blood and the serial assassinations that killed our elite for 30 years."

AP TELEVISION

19. Prime Minister's office building with pro-Hezbollah protesters tent in the foreground

"There is absolutely no attempt (by the opposition) to impede the international tribunal...there are serious observations. The discussion that is taking place within constitutional frameworks could lead to the approval of a revised bill for the problem to establish an international court for prosecuting the killers, not for political exploitation."

LBC

22. Various of crowds leaving Martyrs' Square

STORYLINE

Tens of thousands of Lebanese packed into a Beirut city square and held aloft the nation's flag Wednesday to mark the emotive, politically-charged second anniversary of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's assassination.

Hariri was Lebanon's most prominent politician and was killed by a massive truck bomb on 14 February, 2005.

Fears for public safety at such a mass gathering were high, the day after two bombs in Beirut left three people dead, and prompted the government to deploy hundreds of troops in case of further violence.

The country's continuing and long-running power struggle was played out in Martyrs' Square, where a mass of government supporters gathered next to Hariri's grave.

A much smaller number of mainly pro-Hezbollah opposition supporters remained camped in tents close by to demand the government's resignation.

Backed by armoured cars, soldiers erected a razor wire barrier to separate the two groups.

The opposition made clear it wanted the anniversary to pass without violence.

Politicians, including members of the former leader's family, gathered at Rafik Hariri's graveside for prayer.

At exactly 1055 GMT - the time of the fatal explosion - the crowd fell silent except for a muezzin's Islamic call to prayer and the tolling of a church bell.

Then the country's leading politicians addressed the crowd.

"We are sticking to the truth to know who was behind the assassination of Rafik Hariri and all the martyrs who were killed in defending Lebanon and to the justice to suit the killer and to the international tribunal to stop the cycle of terrorism, blood and the serial assassinations that killed our elite for 30 years," said Said Hariri, Lebanese parliamentary majority leader and son of the former leader.

The UN investigation into his father's assassination has become a thorny point of contention in Lebanon's power struggle.

Hezbollah's power struggle with the government of Fuad Saniora is seen in the region as the militant Shiite group's muscle-flexing attempt to build on its success in the ground war with Israel in south Lebanon during the summer war.

Some observers say Hezbollah is trying to secure a position of strength in the cabinet with the power of veto which could be utilised against the international tribunal.

However, Hussein al-Haj Hassan, a Hezbollah member of parliament told AP Television News: "There is absolutely no attempt (by the opposition) to impede the international tribunal... there are serious observations. The discussion that is taking place within constitutional frameworks could lead to the approval of a revised bill for the problem to establish an international court for prosecuting the killers, not for political exploitation."

The probe is slowly proceeding, but Lebanon's approval of UN-backed court to try the suspects has been held up by the deep internal divisions between the pro-American government and the opposition, led by the Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah.

Supporters of Saad Hariri and of the government, now made up of his allies accuse Syria of being behind his father's slaying.

Syria was forced to withdraw its troops from Lebanon two months after Hariri's death after intensive regional and international pressure, but denies any involvement his death.

"The international tribunal, it's our only possibility to protect the civil population and the political class in Lebanon. We are still in the 14 last hours, 14 last years we did sacrificed a lot of our politicians and now we are sacrificing our civilian population also. So (that is) why we need so much this international tribunal."

28. People in rally jumping uo and down and chanting slogans

29. People carrying picture of Hariri and his son, Saad Hariri

30. Wide shot of rally with mosque in background

STORYLINE

A sea of Lebanese flags held aloft by tens of thousands of mostly pro-government supporters filled Beirut's main square square on Wednesday to mark the emotive second anniversary of Rafik Hariri's assassination.

The government deployed hundreds of troops to deter trouble, a day after two bombs killed three people.

Troops in full combat gear and armoured cars deployed in and around Martyrs' Square, where the country's two main rival groups were present: government supporters commemorating the death of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and opposition supporters continuing their daily sit-in to demand the government's resignation.

The soldiers set up a razor wire barrier to separate the two groups. Police conducted body searches as people arrived at the square.

An early arrival was Prime Minister Fuad Saniora, a longtime confidant of Hariri, who with his wife and several legislators prayed at Hariri's grave, which lies at one side of the square.

Hariri's sister, Bahiya, a lawmaker, also came to the grave and prayed.

By late morning, the square was teeming with people waving the red-and-white national flag and political party flags.

Many people held pictures of Hariri or balloons in the blue colour of the Hariri faction in parliament, now led by his son, Saad.

Some demonstrators climbed the square's statue, which commemorates Lebanese martyrs of the Ottoman era.

On the other side of the razor wire, opposition supporters were noticeably low key in the tent village they have been sleeping in for months.

Supporters of Hezbollah and other parties, they walked around to warm up under the sun.

Tuesday's explosions on commuter buses on a busy mountain highway northeast of Beirut stoked fears of turmoil as the country prepared to mark the 2005 assassination of Hariri, the nation's most prominent politician and the leader credited with rebuilding the country from the destruction of the 1975-90 civil war.

Lebanon has suffered a series of bombings during the past two years, mostly targeting anti-Syrian figures, but Tuesday's attacks were the first that seemed intended to cause maximum casualties among civilians of no political affiliation.

Hariri and 22 others were killed in a huge explosion that occurred as his motorcade was passing through central Beirut.

He was buried a few blocks away from the site. Outrage over the assassination forced Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon two months later, ending a 29-year presence.

10. Mid shot of banner: "Kick out Bashar's agent from Baabda" (referring Syrian President Bashar Assad and to Lebanese president Emile Lahoud)

11. Wide shot of Al Amine mosque

12. Mid shot of crowd

13. SOUNDBITE: (English) Ghazi Aridi, Information minister:

"It will be the international tribunal and the truth will be very clear for all the Lebanese people and the international community."

14. Mid shot of soldiers

15. Various of crowd

STORYLINE:

Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese waving flags, some carrying anti-Syrian banners, massed in Martyr's square in Beirut on Tuesday to commemorate the first anniversary of the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri.

The gathering answered a call by groups opposed to Syrian involvement in lebanon aiming to show their popular strength amid deep political divisions.

Syria's troops left Lebanon in April under international pressure after nearly 30 years, and a UN probe into Hariri's murder has already implicated top Syrian and allied Lebanese security officials. Damasmcus refutes any involvement.

Rafik Hariri's sister Bahia Hariri prayed at his graveside next to the square.

Outside some demonstrators carried signs calling for "The Truth" and shouted the name of Hariri's son and political heir, Saad Hariri, whilst others carried placards critical of Syria and its president, Bashar Assad.

Thousands of troops and policemen, backed by armoured vehicles, sealed off Beirut's downtown area to provide security and guarded approaches to the city.

The government gave schools the day off and businesses closed.

The demonstration was expected to climax shortly after midday - the time when a huge truck bomb exploded on a downtown seaside street as his motorcade drove by a year ago, killing him and 20 others.

The main pro-Syrian Shiite Muslim groups, Hezbollah and Amal, were not taking part in the demonstration, which was expected to be largely dominated by Sunni Muslims from Hariri's sect and by Christian and Druse allies.

Amal is holding its own commemoration later Tuesday in southern Lebanon. Amal and Hezbollah, who are represented in the Cabinet, have been locked in a power struggle with the government's majority led by the Saad Hariri bloc.

The groups leading Tuesday's rallies in Beirut are looking for a repetition of a March 14 protest in which about one (m) million flag-waving Lebanese converged on Martyrs' Square to demand the Syrian army leave Lebanon.

The groups have continued to accuse Syria of interfering in Lebanese affairs and carrying out a campaign of bombings and assassinations in the last year that has killed other 11 people, including three prominent anti-Syrians.

Damascus has also denied involvement in these attacks.

Before the troop pullout, Syria had dominated Lebanon with its army and security services for nearly three decades, first entering in 1976 to quell a fratricidal civil war that did not end until 1990.

"The International Tribunal, which will try those cowardly criminal killers, will also try those who sabotage the presidential elections."

20. Various of locked up shops

STORYLINE

Lebanese leaders pledged on Thursday to press ahead with a divisive election for president, to be held in Parliament in coming days, despite the car bombing assassination of an anti-Syrian lawmaker.

Wednesday's bomb killed Antoine Ghanem, an anti-Syria lawmaker, and six others in a Christian neighbourhood of Beirut and threatened to derail efforts to bring the country's rival parties together to agree on a head of state ahead of time, before voting is set to begin next week.

Investigators were at the sight examining the remains of the blast.

At least 67 were wounded in the explosion, which severely damaged buildings and set cars ablaze during rush hour on a busy street in the Sin el-Fil neighbourhood.

Ghanem, 64, a member of the right-wing Christian Phalange party, had returned from refuge abroad only two days earlier. He was the eighth anti-Syria figure and fourth governing coalition lawmaker to be assassinated in less than three years.

On Thursday Lebanese newspapers were focused entirely on the assassination.

Samer Mrad a Beirut resident said he wants to know who is behind the attack.

" We want to see and to know that hands behind such acts and who has the interest. This is only affecting the poor and miserable people," he said.

Coalition members blamed Syria for the death, but Damascus denied involvement, as it has for the previous seven assassinations, including the 2005 bombing death of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Prime Minister Fuad Saniora asked the United Nations secretary-general in a letter to add the Ghanem assassination to an international probe into Hariri's slaying and other political crimes in Lebanon.

On Wednesday Hariri's son, who now heads the main anti-Syrian alliance in the Lebanese parliament, called the perpetrators of the attack "cowardly criminal killers".

"The presidency does not belong to Saad Hariri, or to Hassan Nasrallah, or to Nabih Berri, or to Michel Aoun, or to any other party. The presidency belongs to the people of Lebanon," Saad Hariri said.

Many people fear the divisions over the presidency could lead to creation of two rival governments, a grim threat to repeat the last two years of Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war when army units loyal to competing administrations battled it out.

President Emile Lahoud, an ally of Syria, is due to step down from the presidency by November 23 and government supporters see the vote as the opportunity to put one of their own in the post.

But Hezbollah and its allies have vowed to block any candidate they do not approve and they can do so by boycotting the ballots, preventing the needed two-thirds quorum of 85 votes.

If no candidate is agreed on by the time Lahoud steps down, Prime Minister Fuad Saniora and his cabinet would automatically take on executive powers.

If that happens, opposition supporters have said Lahoud might appoint a second government, a step many fear would break up the country.

Schools, universities and many businesses in Christian areas of Beirut, plus in the Mount Lebanon region north of the capital, closed on Thursday in a day of mourning and to observe a strike called by the Phalange Party.

3. Mid shot of upside down poster of pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud

Zen TV - Lebanon

4. Hariri's son Saad Hariri praying at his graveside next to square

AP TELEVISION

5. Crowd observing one minute's silence at 1055GMT, the time of Hariri's assassination

AP TELEVISION

6. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Saad Hariri, son of Rafik Hariri:

"They (the Syrians) left for us in Baabda (Lebanese presidential palace) a deposit of the tutelage regime." (referring to President Lahoud)

ZEN TV POOL

7. SOUNDBITE: (Arabic) Walid Jumblatt, Druse leader:

"There can be no stability and no freedom while the symbol of subservience to the Syrian regime remains in Baabda (Lebanon's presidential palace). We say to him (Lebanese President Emile Lahoud) : the terrorist Bashar installed you and the valiant Lebanese people will remove you."

AP TELEVISION

8. Pan of crowd

AP TELEVISION

9. SOUNDBITE (English) Ghazi Aridi, Information minister:

"It (There) will be the international tribunal and the truth will be very clear for all the Lebanese people and the international community."

AP TELEVISION

10. Mid shot of soldiers

11. Various of crowd

12. Various of soldiers at rally

STORYLINE:

Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese paid tribute to Rafik Hariri on the first anniversary of their former premier's assassination on Tuesday.

Waving flags and shouting anti-Syrian slogans they put on a show of strength aimed at reviving the "people power" spirit that helped break Damascus' domination of its politics and pressed Syria to withdraw its troops.

Groups opposed to any Syrian influence in their country - buoyed by a turnout that police put at about 800,000 and organisers said was more than a (m) million - stepped up demands for the resignation of Lebanon's pro-Syrian president, Emile Lahoud.

But it remained unclear if they will be able to consolidate control of the government.

So far, the bloc led by those affiliated to the slain former premier's son, Saad - politicians who are a majority in government and Parliament - have been unable to force out President Emile Lahoud or catch those responsible for Hariri's killing or a series of bombings that have killed 11 people, including three prominent anti-Syrian figures.

But the demonstration certainly boosted the sagging morale of these groups, buffeted by the killings and bombings.

The crowds fell into silence at 12:55 p.m. (1055GMT) - the time when a huge truck bomb exploded on a downtown street as Hariri's motorcade drove by a year ago, killing him and 20 others.

Saad Hariri returned to Beirut on Sunday - after months of self-imposed exile in Saudi Arabia and France for fear of assassination - to rally the divided former opposition for the demonstration.

He prayed at his father's grave before addressing the crowds. "They (the Syrians) left for us in Baabda, a deposit of the tutelage regime," he told them, referring to the Baabda presidential palace, inhabited by President Lahoud.

"There can be no stability and no freedom while the symbol of subservience to the Syrian regime remains in Baabda," Walid Jumblatt, a major anti-Syrian Druse politician said, echoing Hariri, before adding, "the terrorist Bashar installed you and the valiant Lebanese people will remove you, " a searing denunciation of the the Syrian president, Bashar Assad.

Neither Lahoud nor Syria had any immediate reaction. Syria has denied any role in Hariri's killing or the subsequent bombings but has stalled on cooperation in the UN probe into the former prime minister's death.

Three of the four top Lebanese generals close to Lahoud have been arrested in connection to the slaying.

But Lahoud has remained. The anti-Syrian groups in Parliament are short of the two-thirds needed to force him out.

"The truth will be very clear for all the Lebanese people and the international community," information minister

Ghazi Aridi said of the investigation.

Before its troop pullout, Syria had dominated Lebanon with its army and security services for nearly three decades, first entering in 1976 to quell a fratricidal civil war that did not end until 1990.

15. Various of blast victim Antoine Ghanem, a member of the right-wing Christian Phalange Party

AP TELEVISION

Beirut - 19 September 2007

16. Set-up of Telecommunications minister, Marwan Hamadeh

17. SOUNDBITE: (English) Marwan Hamadeh, Telecommunications minister:

"Once more the Syrian regime is using its terrorist skills to assassinate one after the other the MPs belonging to the Lebanese independence movement majority. We lost an MP three months ago, we lost a minister seven months ago. We have been since the assassination of prime minister Hariri being targeted one after the other, in order to deplete the majority of its numbers and to impose a comeback of Syria over Lebanon. We will not surrender to Bashar Assad's terrorist threats to Lebanon."

"The International Tribunal, which will try those cowardly criminal killers, will also try those who sabotage the presidential elections."

AP TELEVISION

Beirut - 19 September 2007

22. Wide view from above blast site

23. View from above of emergency services and soldiers at the site

24. Wide view from above of the blast site

STORYLINE:

A powerful bomb killed a pro-government Parliament member and six others on Wednesday in a Christian suburb east of the Lebanese capital, security officials said.

The blast targeted Antoine Ghanem, 64, a member of the right-wing Christian Phalange Party, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the press.

Ghanem was the eighth anti-Syrian figure and fourth lawmaker from the majority assassinated since 2005, reducing the ruling coalition's margin in

Parliament.

The Voice of Lebanon radio station, which is owned by the Phalange party, also confirmed Ghanem's death. The identities of the others killed were not immediately known.

The attack occurred six days before Parliament was scheduled to meet to elect a new president in a deeply divisive vote.

Security officials said 67 people were wounded in Wednesday's blast, half of which have left the hospital.

The explosion occurred at rush hour on a busy street in the Sin el-Fil district, severely damaging nearby buildings, setting several cars on fire and leaving the street littered with blood and debris.

Explosive experts were seen sifting through the engine of Ghanem's car, which was blown at least 50 metres (165 feet) away by the force of the explosion.

Former Lebanese President Amin Gemayel, who heads the Phalange Party, said Lebanon's democracy was at stake.

The former president's son, Cabinet minister and lawmaker Pierre Gemayel, was assassinated in November.

Syria condemned the attack, which it said was meant to sabotage efforts by the Lebanese people to reach agreement.

The assassination of anti-Syrian figures began with former prime minister Rafik Hariri, who was killed in a massive car bombing that year.

Syria's opponents in Lebanon have accused Damascus of being behind the killings, a claim Syria denies.

Hariri's death sparked massive protests that helped bring an end to Syria's nearly 30-year domination of Lebanon. Damascus was forced to withdraw its troops from Lebanon in 2005, and a government led by anti-Syrian politicians was elected.

Since then, the government of US-backed Prime Minister Fuad Saniora has been locked in a power struggle with the opposition, led by Syria's ally Hezbollah.

Government supporters have accused Syria of seeking to end Saniora's slim majority in parliament by killing off lawmakers in his coalition.

"Once more the Syrian regime is using its terrorist skills to assassinate one after the other, the MPs belonging to the Lebanese independence movement majority," Lebanese telecommunications minister Marwan Hamadeh told AP Television.

"We have been since the assassination of Prime minister Hariri being targeted one after the other, in order to deplete the majority of its numbers and to impose a come back of Syria over Lebanon. We will not surrender to (Syrian President) Bashar Assad's terrorist threats to Lebanon," he added.

Hariri's son, Saad Hariri, who now heads the main anti-Syrian alliance in the Lebanese Parliament, called the perpetrators of the attack "cowardly criminal killers".

In apparent reference to the power struggle for Lebanon by rivalling factions, he continued:

"The presidency does not belong to Saad Hariri, or to Hassan Nasrallah, or to Nabih Berri, or to Michel Aoun, or to any other party. The presidency belongs to the people of Lebanon."

After the assassination of Lebanese Parliament member Walid Eido in June, many majority legislators had to leave the country to spend the summer abroad for security reasons.

Others who stayed in Lebanon took extra security.

Ghanem was travelling on Wednesday in a car with regular license plates, his blue plate hidden in the trunk, apparently as a security measure.

Cabinet Minister Ahmed Fatfat told The Associated Press that Ghanem returned two days ago from abroad where he had been taking refuge for the past two months.

According to local papers, a landmark hotel near the Parliament building in downtown Beirut has been rented for majority members to protect them during the 60-day presidential election process, which begins on Tuesday.

Wednesday's bombing heightens tensions before the presidential vote that already threatens to throw the country into deeper turmoil.

Many fear divisions over the presidency could lead to the creation of two rival governments, a grim reminder of the last two years of the 1975-90 civil war when army units loyal to competing administrations battled it out.

Pro-Syrian Emile Lahoud is due to step down from the presidency by November 23, and government supporters see the vote as the opportunity to put one of their own in the post.

Hezbollah and its allies have vowed to block any candidate they don't approve of, and they can do so by boycotting the vote, preventing the necessary two-thirds quota.

If no candidate is agreed on by the time Lahoud steps down, Saniora and his Cabinet would automatically take on executive powers.

If that happens, opposition supporters have said Lahoud might appoint a second government, a step many fear would break up the country.

"No one should think that this people will kneel and be frightened. I tell the criminals: you will be punished and you will be dragged to prisons and will face justice, God willing."

9. Body being lowered into grave

10. Eido's son crying

11. Another body being lowered into grave

12. Wide pan of cemetery

STORYLINE:

Tens of thousands of mourners bade farewell on Thursday to victims of a powerful car bombing in Beirut that killed a prominent anti-Syrian legislator and nine others as the Lebanese government - reeling from another blow targeting its supporters - sought international help.

A bomb ripped through Walid Eido's car on Wednesday as he drove from a seaside sports club, also killing his 35-year-old son, two bodyguards and six passers-by.

Thursday's funeral procession swelled to tens of thousands of mourners who escorted coffins carrying the bodies of Eido, his son and one of the bodyguards killed.

The mourners followed ambulances covered with Lebanese flags that drove from the American University Hospital in West Beirut to a mosque at the Shohada Cemetery several kilometers away for a prayer service and internment.

At the mosque, male relatives sobbed and bent to kiss the coffins laid next to one another.

The spiritual leader of Lebanon's Sunni Muslims, Grand Mufti of the Republic Sheik Mohammed Rashid Kabbani, led the prayers, with Saad Hariri, son of assassinated former prime minister Rafik Hariri, at his side.

Saad Hariri, leader of the anti-Syrian majority bloc in parliament to which Eido belonged, said Lebanon would not kneel before the killers and promised they would be brought to justice.

"No one should think that this people will kneel and be frightened," he said. "I tell the criminals, you will be punished and you will be dragged to prisons and will face justice, God willing."

Prime Minister Fuad Saniora has called for an emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers and the international community to assist in the investigation of Eido's assassination.

The blast that killed Eido was a new blow to the stability of this conflict-torn nation.

It came just three days after the government, together with the United Nations, started putting together an international tribunal ordered by the U.N. Security Council to try suspects in the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in Beirut two years ago - a move strongly opposed by Syria and its allies in Lebanon.

Eido was a prominent supporter of the tribunal, a staunch follower of Hariri and the seventh anti-Syrian figure killed in Lebanon in the past two years.

Many in Lebanon have accused Syria of being behind the killings, a claim Damascus denies.

Hundreds of thousands of flag-waving Lebanese, some carrying anti-Syrian banners and many shouting criticism of Damascus, massed in a square in Beirut on Tuesday to commemorate the first anniversary of former Premier Rafik Hariri's assassination.

The gathering answered a call by groups opposed to Syrian involvement in lebanon aiming to show their popular strength amid deep political divisions.

Next to the square Rafik Hariri's sister Bahia Hariri prayed at his graveside before anti-Syrian politicians addressed the crowd.

Those politicians, including Hariri's son, Saad, and cabinet ministers, called for the ouster of President Emile Lahoud, saying he represented the symbol of Syrian power in Lebanon.

"It will be the international tribunal and the truth will be very clear for all the Lebanese people and the international community."

Some speakers attacked Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Saad Hariri, the slain premier's son and political heir, returned to Beirut on Sunday - after months of self-exile in Saudi Arabia and France for fear of assassination, urging the Lebanese to demonstrate on Tuesday.

Thousands of troops and policemen, backed by armoured vehicles, sealed off Beirut's downtown area to provide security and guarded approaches to the Lebanese capital.

The government, which is dominated by the Saad Hariri bloc, gave schools the day off to maximise participation.

Businesses also closed.

Thousands of people began gathering by mid-morning, carrying Lebanese flags and pictures of Hariri, and the numbers had swelled to more than 700,000 by early afternoon, according to police estimates.

The demonstration, on the central Martyrs' Square next to Hariri's grave, climaxed shortly after midday local (1000gmt).

The crowds fell silent at 12:55 p.m. (1055GMT) - the time when a huge truck bomb exploded on a downtown street as Hariri's motorcade drove by a year ago, killing him and 20 others.

The groups who organised Tuesday's rally were looking for a repetition of a March 14 protest in which about one (m) million Lebanese converged on Martyrs' Square to demand the Syrian army leave Lebanon.

It fell short of that outpouring, but was still a comprehensive turnout.

Syria's troops left in April under international pressure, and a UN probe into Hariri's murder has already implicated top Syrian and allied Lebanese security officials.

Anti-Syrians have continued to accuse Syria of interfering in Lebanese affairs and carrying out a campaign of bombings and assassinations in the last year that has killed other 11 people, including three prominent anti-Syrians.

Damascus has denied involvement in all these attacks, including the death of Hariri.

Before the troop pullout, Syria had dominated Lebanon with its army and security services for nearly three decades, first entering in 1976 to quell a fratricidal civil war that did not end until 1990.

13. Mid of Hussein Khalil, adviser to Nasrallah, pull out to include Nasrallah

14. Wide of meeting

STORYLINE:

Lebanon was on Wednesday still in a political crisis after Hezbollah last week forced the collapse of the country's Western-backed government in a dispute over the UN court which is investigating the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

The Iran and Syria sponsored Shiite group, which denies any role in Hariri's 2005 killing, says the tribunal is a conspiracy by Israel and the United States.

Many fear the political crisis could lead to street protests and violence that have been the scourge of this tiny Arab country of 4 million (m) people for years, including a devastating 1975-1990 civil war and sectarian battles between Sunnis and Shiites in 2008.

In the capital Beirut on Wednesday, residents keenly perused newspaper headlines for any signs of a breakthrough in the impasse.

Last week, ministers from Hezbollah and their allies walked out of the Cabinet when Prime Minister Saad Hariri, the son of the slain leader, refused to renounce the tribunal.

The move brought down the unity government and further polarised the country's rival factions: Hezbollah with its patrons in Syria and Iran on one side, and Hariri's Western-backed bloc on the other, with support by the US and Saudi Arabia.

On Tuesday, the Hague-based tribunal filed sealed indictments in the Hariri case, but its contents may not become public for weeks as Belgian judge Daniel Fransen decides whether there is enough evidence for a trial.

But the court is widely expected to accuse members of Hezbollah of being involved in the killing, something the Shiite militant group has insisted it will not accept.

The indictment is the latest turn in a deepening political crisis in Lebanon.

Lengthy negotiations lie ahead between Lebanon's factions as they attempt to build a new government.

Many Lebanese are pessimistic about their ability to share power.

"There will be no solution because some people want to dominate and the others will not accept it," said Beirut shopkeeper Mahmoud Bazzi.

On Tuesday, Turkey's foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu was in Beirut in a coordinated visit with Qatar's prime minister, Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr Al-Thani, to discuss the political crisis in Lebanon.

The officials met Saad Hariri, who is staying on as a caretaker prime minister, and separately with Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah.

According to Lebanon's power-sharing system, the president must be a Christian Maronite, the prime minister a Sunni and the parliament speaker a Shiite.

Each faith makes up about a third of Lebanon's population of 4 million (m).

Davutoglu's trip to Beirut came a day after he held consultations with Iran's new acting Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi in Ankara.

Lebanon's political crisis came to a head last week when the Shiite militant Hezbollah movement toppled the Western-backed government in a dispute over the UN tribunal investigating the assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri.

Saad Hariri - the son of the slain leader - refused Hezbollah's demands to renounce the court, prompting 11 Hezbollah ministers and their allies to resign last Wednesday.

The move brought down the unity government and further polarised the country's rival factions: Hezbollah with its patrons in Syria and Iran on one side and Hariri's Western-backed bloc on the other, with support by the US and Saudi Arabia.

Many fear the crisis could lead to street protests and the kind of violence that has bedevilled the tiny Arab country of four (M) million people for years, including a devastating 1975-1990 civil war and sectarian battles between Sunnis and Shiites in 2008.

The UN tribunal late on Monday filed a long-awaited indictment in the Hariri killing.

The indictment was sealed and its contents will likely not become public for weeks.

But the court is widely expected to accuse members of Hezbollah of being involved in the murder, something the Shiite militant group has insisted it will not accept.

Hezbollah fiercely denies any role in the assassination and says the tribunal, jointly funded by UN member states and Lebanon, is a conspiracy by Israel and the United States.

"We want to prevent the weapons from falling, we want to put the weapons at the orders of the state because the state unites us all and the army protects us all. It is impossible for us to forget that Israel is our enemy and Palestine is our cause and those who want to liberate it should turn their weapons toward Israel not on their own country."

9. Wide of crowd

10. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Saad Hariri, Caretaker Prime Minister:

"There is no freedom for people whose state, constitution, security, economy and future are under the threat of weapons and are hostages for the decision of those who have weapons."

11. Hariri waving to crowd before leaving podium

STORYLINE:

Toppled Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri addressed the tens of thousands who filled a central Beirut square on Sunday to mark the 2005 protests that ended Syria's 30-year domination of the country.

They were also demanding that the militant group Hezbollah, seen as a proxy of Syria, give up its weapons.

The rally by the country's pro-Western political opposition was a potent display of numbers and came at a tense time for Lebanon and the rest of the Arab world, which is being swept by a wave of anti-government unrest.

The crowd waved Lebanese flags, banners of pro-Western political parties and posters of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, whose 2005 assassination prompted the protest movement that drove out Syrian troops later that year in what became known as the "Cedar Revolution."

The billionaire businessman had been quietly challenging Damascus' domination over Lebanon at the time of his assassination.

Hezbollah has an arsenal that far outweighs that of the national army and enjoys popular backing from most of Lebanon's Shiite Muslims and many Christians.

The group says it needs its weapons to defend Lebanon in case of an Israeli attack.

"There is no freedom for people whose state, constitution, security, economy and future are under the threat of weapons and are hostages for the decision of those who have weapons," Hariri told a cheering crowd.

In 2008, Hezbollah gunmen swept through Sunni neighbourhoods in Beirut after the pro-Western government tried to dismantle the group's telecommunications network.

More than 80 people were killed in those clashes, which led many to accuse Hezbollah of breaking its promise not to use its arms against fellow Lebanese.

This year's anniversary coincides with rising tension stemming from deft political manoeuvring by Hezbollah and its allies in January that forced the collapse of a government led by pro-Western Hariri, the son of the slain statesman.

Hezbollah and its allies were then able to usher in their favoured candidate to head a new government.

Several defections from the pro-Western camp also added to their political strength by giving them a majority in parliament.

The Shiite militant group and its allies walked out of the previous coalition government after Saad Hariri refused to denounce an international tribunal investigating his father's assassination.

The tribunal is widely expected to accuse Hezbollah members of involvement in the killing.